Make-do secrets of a desperate Tarp wife

AFTER months of watching their husbands pilloried in public, the wives of the bankers and fund managers in the forefront of Wall Street's crisis have found a voice.

In the latest issue of snooty Portfolio magazine comes "Confessions of a Tarp wife" written by a woman whose husband runs one of the financial firms which took money from the government's Troubled Assets Relief Programme.

"Here is the reality: Tarp managers are scared to death," she writes. "The executives of these companies are desperately trying to hold their businesses together while complying with a slew of damaging bills flooding out of Congress. My husband has battled the shutdown of the credit markets and a deteriorating business environment for two endless years without respite. He's exhausted, terrified of losing the company, and beaten down by the constant criticism hurled at him."

Her husband's net worth consists mainly of stock in his firm, which is down 95%. With his salary dictated by Washington and no bonus, they are feeling squeezed. Nights at the opera and restaurants have been replaced by evenings in front of the television with home-made lasagne. Private air travel is off limits. The Tarp wife claims to have bought just two things this year, "makeup and pantyhose".

She says: "I've watched the skin under my husband's eyes take on a yellowish hue, and his hair turn from gray to grayer, as he tries to lead his company through this mess. He's up every night for hours at a stretch, and for the first time, he has health issues He seems off-balance, as though self-confidence were a physical ballast that he is slowly losing. It's heartbreaking how often he apologises to me for losing so much of our money."

One rumour suggests the author is Liz Peek, the wife of Jeffrey Peek, CEO of CIT Group.

* FORGET the heavily massaged bank results which came out last week. A truer reading of the US economy came from Caterpillar, which just announced its first quarterly loss in 16 years. Bulldozer sales are a leading indicator of the direction of the economy — which remains downwards.

* MORGAN Stanley and Goldman Sachs both went out in recent weeks to raise money for a private-equity fund of funds. Goldman came back with $5.5 billion, Morgan Stanley $1.14 billion. Even in these times, Goldman can pummel its rivals.